A Quiet Mind
by Echotrail
Summary: Ever since I was a kit, I knew I was different from the rest. My fur, my eyes, my thoughts, all so abnormal. It was as if you were to compare night to day; a task so impossible it hurts to even fathom it. They said I could never amount to anything. They hated me. They alienated me. But little did they know, I would prove them all wrong...
1. Chapter 1

A Quiet Mind

Prologue:

_Ever since I was a kit, I knew I was... Different. _

_I was born with reddish-brown fur, which was particularly odd, considering neither of my parents had red or brown fur. My eyes are said to be the colour of death; a deep brown accompanied by unusual flecks of grey, another thing which none of my family members had. I stuck out like a black cloud against a clear blue sky, and I was reminded of my indifference each and every day. _

_But please, do forgive me... I do tend to get ahead of myself sometimes. _

_It all started many, many moons ago, on the night that my mother was kitting..._

Dark clouds loomed over the forest, obscuring both the stars and the soft light of the moon as rain poured down at a seemingly endless rate, soaking the earth in a blanket of freezing rainwater.

A loud cry that could only be described as one of a deep sadness and misery rang out through the forest, cutting through the gentle twilight just as harshly as the freezing raindrops that fell from the sky.

"They're _gone_!" a pale coloured she-cat cried out, wailing in despair as the medicine cat quickly collected three tiny, cold, and lifeless bundles into her jaws.

"They're all gone! My beautiful, _beautiful_ kits!" The she-cat shouted in vain, utterly drained both emotionally and physically.

The two other queens in the nursery sat beside their dear friend, Mistedheart. For she had just suffered a loss no she-cat should ever have; all three of the kits in her litter had been stillborn. Each one barely even able to take their first breaths as they slid out from their mother already still and forever asleep.

A dark grey tom with harsh green eyes by the name of Sorrelpath loomed outside the nursery, soaked in rain water as he listened to his mate cry out into the night.

"Sorrelpath," A voice murmured, soon followed by the dark shadow of a large tom. He sat beside his friend and bowed his head, deep sorrow in his eyes. "I... I'm so sorry. I offer my deepest condolences for both you and your mate."

Sorrelpath nodded uneasily, claws gripping the wet earth beneath him as he refused to show his sadness towards his friend. "Thank you, Crowmark." he replied, glancing at the nursery uneasily. "We had been so excited when we found out she was having kits... I didn't-"

"There's no need to explain, my friend." Crowmark said slowly as he could tell Sorrelpath was clearly in no condition to speak on that dreadful matter any longer.

Here there was a long silence, as the two no longer knew what to say to one another and Mistedheart's cries he begun to cease, the only noise being that of the pouring rain which beat down on both of them.

"Sorrelpath, I know that you and Mistedheart have been wanting kits for quite some time now, and under the circumstances, I think it would be best if I told you now..."

The grey tom frowned. "Told me what?" he asked, the tip of his tail flicking with apprehension.

Crowmark sighed. "During our patrol, we found a kit... She appears to be only hours old, yet the den was empty and abandoned." He said, staring off into the distance, bright green eyes piercing the night like a blade. "We brought it back to camp, and that's when we heard news of your litter."

Sorrelpath looked at the nursery and sighed. "I understand. And, seeing as Mistedheart still has milk from our litter, I'm sure she'll be more than willing to raise this kit."

With a curt nod, Crowmark flicked his tail forward, and no sooner did one of the Warriors, Eveningtalon, trot forward with a small bundle of reddish-brown fur in her jaws. It was squirming quite furiously, batting at Eveningtalon with all her might; tiny eyes and ears clamped shut.

"Shall I bring her into the nursery?" Eveningtalon asked, struggling as the kit nearly fell from her jaws.

"Yes, go on ahead." replied Crowmark, who then turned back to Sorrelpath and said, "Now I think it might be best if you told Mistedheart about all this, and see if she's alright with it... We'll wait out here until you're ready."

Nodding, Sorrelpath gingerly made his way into the nursery and slowly padded towards his mate. "Darling, how are you feeling?" he asked in a calming voice, sitting beside her and draping his long tail over her back.

Mistedheart lifted her head a little and looked up at Sorrelpath with exhausted yellow eyes. "Oh, Sorrelpath..." she whispered in a pained tone. "They're... They're all gone." she meowed gravely, resting her head back down on her paws.

Sorrelpath stayed silent for a moment, licking Mistedheart's ears in a calming, soothing manner before saying, "A patrol found something, dear..." he gently waved his tail, motioning for Eveningtalon to bring the kit in.

Mistedheart glanced up as the white and silvery grey warrior padded into the nursery and placed what was in her jaws down beside the grieving queen.

Reacting immediately by pure instinct, Mistedheart pulled the kit to her belly and began to lick her fur clean of the grime that had gotten itself tangled in the delicate little russet strands. She then paused once she was done cleaning and allowed the kit to nuzzle into her side; suckling happily.

"Poor little thing..." Mistedheart murmured, looking down at her. She looked back up at Eveningtalon and Crowmark. "We'll raise her as out own. She will become a member of the clan and we shall both proudly call her our daughter." She said in a somber, solemn voice.

Crowmark smiled faintly. "That's very kind of both of you. I'm sure she will grow to become a fine young she-cat." he looked to Eveningtalon. "Shall we go and tell Creekstar of the new arrival?"

Eveningtalon opened her mouth to reply when she was promptly interrupted by an abrupt, "No."

Both cats turned their head to Mistedheart, confused.

Mistedheart sighed, looking down at the kit with sad eyes. "I... I don't want her to feel like she doesn't belong... We will say a fourth kit was born and managed to somehow live."

Crowmark glanced doubtfully at Sorrelpath, but only received a firm nod as an answer. "Alright, agreed." he replied, quietly padding out of the nursery with Eveningtalon.

"I have a dreadful feeling about all this, Crowmark..." Eveningtalon muttered under her breath as the two strode out into the clan camp, the rain beating down on the two cats mercilessly.

* * *

_Greetings, dalrings! _

_I hope you all enjoyed reading my __newest __Fanfic that I have been wanting to write for a while, but haven't exactly gotten around to until now. _

_I know I should probably be __writing __other stories at the moment, but I like to have variety on my page so there's a little something for everyone. _

_(And yes, this one also takes place in the Counting Every Echo world as well.) _

_~Ciao! _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

Voiceless

A jabbing sensation met my side along with a high-pitched, all-too-overly excited voice shouting, "Hurry up, Redkit! Hurry up!"

With a hazy, slow-working mind and a tired, half-hearted groan I rolled over onto my other side stubbornly and squeezed my eyes shut even tighter than before in a desperate attempt to block out the sun's bright mocking rays.

I heard a loud, exasperated grunt as the small pitter-patter of paw-steps swept clear around my head. A certain someone was obviously pacing in front of me. But what did I care? I was still tried and sleep sounded much more promising than whatever awaited me today.

"Redkit," the owner of the voice whined, throwing themselves onto my side. "Let's go! You're going to be late for the Apprentice Ceremony and-"

Exhilaration taking hold of me faster than I could have imagined, I sat up and threw the squealing Thornkit off of me, completely and utterly elated with pure joy. I grinned widely at Thornkit with an expression that was one of, _'well why didn't you say so?' _

Thornkit sat up and shook her wiry, black and white fur. "That's much better!" she squeaked, practically bubbling with her own enthusiasm. We had been waiting for this day for so long, and now it was finally happening.

I ducked a fake jump at Thornkit which caused her to squeal and mew with even more delight. The two of us burst out into the camp in a tussling mess of fluff, tiny claws and mews. In our commotion, the two of us rolled until we hit something with a soft thud, causing the two of us to break away from one another and glance up at just who we had barrelled into.

"_What_ is your problem?" the apprentice that we had knocked over hissed, quickly getting to her paws and shaking the dust from her beautiful orange fur which shone like something that was ablaze when the sun hit it ever so slightly.

"S-Sorry, Goldenpaw..." Thornkit mewed, cowering away from the she-cat's withering gaze.

Goldenpaw snorted daintily and shook her fur once more. Although unlike the first time she had done it, to a trained eye one could tell that this time it was merely just for show. I had to admit, I was a tad jealous. Why couldn't my fur glisten and shine like that in the warm sunlight? Why couldn't I be as dainty and as sleek? Goldenpaw was so much more slimmer and elegant than _me_, and I wondered what it would be like to walk in her paw-steps for just one day...

"Are you even paying attention, _voiceless_?" a voice snarled, breaking me from my kitten-like thoughts as a paw swiftly met with my side, pushing me down with such tremendous force that it nearly drained all the wind from my lungs.

I mewed pitifully, tiny paws reaching out and scraping at the dirt in front of me as Goldenpaw pinned me to the forest floor, growling deep in the back of her throat, the very sound causing my fur to stand on edge.

Thornkit stepped forward. "Hey, leave her alone, Goldenpaw! It was an accident! Besides, it's not her fault that she can't-"

"Why don't you go and check the elders for ticks, furball?" Goldenpaw snarled, her long tail lashing back and forth like an angry adder, poised and ready to strike.

"Enough." a firm voice said in a calm yet powerful tone. I craned my head back far enough to see a large, muscular tom with fur the colour of dark ashes one would see swivelling a dying flame. His eyes were a deep forest green, and at the moment they were narrowed in such a manner that it made one cower, no matter how big or how small.

"Sorrelpath," Goldenpaw gasped, quickly lifting her paw from my side as her eyes quickly widened, the harshness in them subsiding quite quickly. "My apologies, I was only trying to teach the young kits a lesson." She purred, quickly smoothing her fur back.

"Well I can assure you they've learned their lesson. I don't think they'll be bothering you again." Sorrelpath replied in a forbearing tone.

I quickly gathered myself to my paws and darted over to my father's side, pressing my face in close to his fur. I always felt safe around my father. He was so much more braver and stronger than me.

Goldenpaw nodded quickly and dipped her head, turning and skirting away, her long tail swishing back and forth behind her, the vexation in her gait clearly evident as she stomped off.

Sorrelpath looked down at Thornkit and I and smiled gently. "Perhaps you shouldn't be playing too close to Goldenpaw next time." He suggested in a kind voice.

"But it was an accident, and she was going to hurt Redkit!" Thornkit argued, unsheathing her tiny kitten claws.

Sorrelpath chuckled softly and licked the side where Goldenpaw had pinned me down. "Just be a little more careful next time, alright?"

Thornkit sighed, rolling her eyes up towards StarClan. "We will..." she grumbled irritatedly.

With a nod of approval, my father turned and began to trot away. "Don't forget, you two have an Apprentice Ceremony today." he said over his shoulder.

As if all was suddenly forgotten, Thornkit squealed with excitement and began to leap up and down on her springy little paws, her eyes wide and dancing with delight. "How could we forget? Come on, Redkit!" she shouted, quickly tagging me with her paw and leaping away as I chased her through the camp, eagerness rising up in my own chest. Although, I had to admit, my mind kept going back to what Goldenpaw had said...

She had called me voiceless.

* * *

_Hey guys!_

_Sorry this chapter is a bit short, but I just wanted to quickly update before I go on a bit of a break, seeing as I have a lot of test and homework around this time of the year. But don't worry, once summer starts up you should be seeing a lot more updates!_

_That's pretty much it, thank you to those who reviewed and please tell me what you thought of this chapter as I love to hear your guy's opinions!_

_~Ciao! _


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